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THE
principal suspect in the killing of eight people and the
wounding of six others in Laguna on Monday was killed
following a shootout with policemen who came to arrest
him.
Bernabe
Fiesta, 29, was killed in a shootout with policemen at
past 4 p.m. on Tuesday, said National Police chief
Director Gen. Avelino Razon Jr.
Fiesta
was the principal suspect in the killing and wounding of
the victims, who are all residents of barangay Hornalan,
Calamba City, at past midnight on Monday, by firing at
their houses with an M-16 rifle.
The
automatic rifle was traced to retired policeman
Florencio Peria, who is considered by the police as a
suspect also.
Fiesta
is a hired hand in Peria’s farm.
Razon
said Fiesta engaged the policemen in a shootout when
they came to the old house of his employer, also in the
barangay, to arrest him.
“Fiesta
was killed in a shootout with our operatives,” he said,
quoting a report from Chief Supt. Ricardo Padilla,
Calabarzon (Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon) police
commander.
Policemen recovered from the scene of the shootout the
same rifle that Fiesta allegedly used in shooting the
houses of the victims.
Meanwhile, Chief Supt. Nicanor Bartolome, National
Police spokesman, said that multiple murder charges have
also been filed against Peria after he admitted that the
rifle used in the killing belongs to him.
Peria,
however, claimed that it was stolen from him by Fiesta.
Vendetta
was eyed by the police as the motive of the killing
after Fiesta reportedly told a friend that he killed one
of the victims for teasing him.
Investigation showed that after spraying the house of
his target with bullets, Fiesta also fired at the
adjoining three houses.
Meanwhile, National Police officials are asking bank
owners and officers to invest on security systems in
their establishments, including the mounting of
closed-circuit cameras to ward off or identify
criminals.
The call
was issued by police officials during the meeting of the
Joint Antibank Robbery Action Committee (Jabrac) on
Monday in Camp Crame, which was attended by executives
and security officers of different banks.
Deputy
Director General Emmanuel Carta, National Police deputy
chief for operations, who presided over the Jabrac
conference, called on the members of the Bank Security
Management Association (BSMA) to make security their top
priority in the wake of cases of bank robberies.
The
National Police recommended that alarm systems and
closed-circuit television systems must be installed by
the commercial banks along with the adoption of other
security measures.
Earlier,
Razon ordered the implementation of the security
clustering system in areas where banks and other
commercial establishments are located. The system calls
for the deployment of a police team under a supervisor
to provide security in these areas.
Razon
also ordered police field units to establish checkpoints
even during daytime, especially during banking hours.
Chiefs of police were ordered to come out of their
offices and personally lead these operations.
On
Tuesday Razon visited
Pasay City,
where he inspected checkpoints on Epifanio de los
Santos Avenue,
to see how the campaign against motor vehicles without
license plates and other violators was being
implemented.
During
his visit, Traffic Management Group operatives, led by
Senior Supt. Dennis Siervo, flagged down a maroon
Mitsubishi Galant Super Saloon with license plate
ACV-718 driven by Police Officer 2 Ronaldo David of the
Pasay City Police Station.
David’s
car did not have license plates in front while the car’s
registration is not up-to-date. Highway patrol troopers
held him for further questioning. |
